The developers still haven't forgiven the players.

Players carried the body out and laid it flat on the open ground.

The player, whose game name was Retribution Paladin, kept saying, "Everyone, prove me right! I didn't do this. When I went to find them, they had already been dead for a long time."

There are three corpses of dead players, all of them completely devoid of life.

The three corpses died peacefully, suggesting they did not suffer much when they died.

There were no open wounds on the body, only a mark on the neck, which was now purplish-black.

Even someone with little life experience could tell that the person had been strangled and suffocated to death.

In the secret technique of "Myriad Laws Clay Dolls," the blood and energy of a dead clay doll will return to its original form, and the remaining clay doll corpse will automatically turn to dust after a certain period of time.

The idea that a corpse disappears after death is unrealistic, but it does fit the players' perception.

Peng Zhi listened for a while and basically understood it.

It turns out that this Retribution Paladin was called away by a game friend to check on the situation.

That game friend clearly remembered that he went back to the stone house, lay down, and only logged off after confirming that it was safe.

When he tried to log back in, he could only see the resurrection countdown. So he called the Retribution Paladin to go to where he logged off to see what had happened.

The Retribution Paladin glanced into the stone house and discovered that not only his game friend, but also his two other "roommates" had been killed. When the Retribution Paladin entered the house, the corpses of the three players had been stiff for some time.

This situation has suddenly made many players feel a bit scared.

After all, only a minority of players choose to go back to the stone house, lie down, and then log off.

When playing games, there's no need to be so particular.

Most players simply find an empty spot on the edge of an open area and log off.

When players discover that the starting village is not a safe zone and they can still be harmed or even die, combined with the game's heavy death penalty, even the strongest players will feel insecure.

"This is a bit troublesome."

Peng Zhi rubbed his chin: "Who did this?"

If the culprit is a player, that's fine; we can report it to the official channels, and at worst, we can collectively boycott them. The worst-case scenario is that we can all take action and eliminate the bad guy.

The problem is, if the killer is some kind of monster, then it's part of the game mechanics, meaning other monsters could also sneak into the tribe and kill offline players. In that case, the game's difficulty would likely be even higher than what players have experienced so far.

No matter how high a player's physical fitness is, once they log off, they are in a vulnerable state and have no ability to withstand risks.

In that case, wouldn't we have to form a player guard team to be responsible for patrol and security?

Feeling a sense of crisis, the player began to crouch down and carefully examine the condition of the corpse.

Unfortunately, the killer's movements were too swift, making it difficult to identify the perpetrator based on the traces left on the body.

"Let's confirm the number of victims first."

The sudden announcement of "Universal Martial Power" startled Peng Zhi.

Although Tenka Fubu is usually taciturn, whenever he does speak, he gives people a sense of reliability.

Without thinking much, Peng Zhi said, "Then I'll take some men to check out the other stone houses first."

The stone houses where players leave their bodies when they log off were all built by Peng Zhi and the college students. There are only a dozen or so of them, and it won't take long to check them all.

"No need. We can leave the victim count confirmation to Dog Brother, okay?"

Tianxia Buwu first nodded to Brother Gou, and after receiving an affirmative reply, he beckoned to Peng Zhi: "Come with me."

Without waiting for Peng Zhi's response, he turned and walked towards the two-story villa next to the open space.

Even now, he still can't figure out just how strong Jiang Chen really is.

In his opinion, since there was such a hidden big shot in the tribe, it would be better to ask Jiang Chen directly than to guess here.

no doubt.

The idea of ​​unifying the world by force is correct.

If there has to be one person in the tribe who knows what happened, then that person can only be Jiang Chen.

In fact, Jiang Chen had already spotted the culprit through the players' perspective the moment he infiltrated the tribe.

It wasn't a case of players killing each other; the killer was actually an acquaintance—the chieftain of the Beast Clan.

After escaping from the battlefield of the Gaoshi tribe, he had been hiding and running away, fearing that the human race would discover his whereabouts.

Thinking that it was best to be safe in the dark, the chieftain of the Gou tribe finally arrived at the Xishi tribe before nightfall, intending to recover from his injuries before discussing anything else.

When he first arrived near the Creekstone tribe, he was startled to see that there were quite a few humans in the tribe, thinking that his idea had been predicted.

He observed carefully for a while, drenched in sweat, and realized how weak and vulnerable these humans were.

The tribal chieftain couldn't understand why so many weak humans would appear at the Creekstone Tribe ruins, but that didn't stop him from seeing them as food for healing.

Unaware of Jiang Chen's presence, he acted less cautiously, randomly choosing a stone house and sneaking inside to kill several players.

To his surprise, after he killed three players, he discovered that the blood energy in their bodies had mysteriously disappeared.

This prevented him from using these blood-based foods to increase his healing speed.

The unknown often harbors crises.

Before figuring out what was going on, he didn't take any further action. Instead, he hid in a dilapidated stone house and secretly observed the players' reactions.

What he didn't know was that everything he did was actually under Jiang Chen's surveillance.

Jiang Chen didn't immediately take action to eliminate him; he simply wanted to use this incident to raise the players' awareness of the crisis.

……

A two-story villa next to an open space.

bang bang bang~

After knocking on the door three times rhythmically, Tenka Fubu finally pushed it open and entered.

Peng Zhi followed closely behind him.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged on the bed, calmly watching the two of them without saying a word.

"Respected powerful figure, I apologize for disturbing you."

Tenka Fubu meticulously performed a set of cupped-hand salutes, then added, "We've encountered a problem and need your help."

"No need to be so polite, you are all people I have high hopes for."

As expected, there is a favorability system.

Peng Zhi was only happy for a moment when he heard Jiang Chen continue, "However, I hope you can solve this problem yourselves this time."

As if knowing what the two wanted to ask, Jiang Chen revealed a gentle, flawless smile.

"If you want to survive on this land, you can only rely on yourselves. I will help you force the other side out, but you will need to take action on your own afterwards."

There may be sacrifices involved, but they are necessary. By resolving this matter properly, you will become stronger.